One of the signs that August is here is the beautiful bursts of Goldenrod that bloom absolutely everywhere. We have a huge beautiful patch of them in one of our gardens that will be blooming very soon. I think one of the biggest misconceptions about these flowers is that they cause problems with people’s allergies. They often get confused with ragweed. Ragweed is what is actually causing most problems with allergy not Goldenrod. Goldenrod has heavy sticky pollen that requires help from insects like the bees. Ragweed on the other hand has pollen that can blow for miles. It is responsible for the yellow film that you get on your car this time of year. I’ll be honest I had them mixed together for a long. Now that I know the difference we have intentionally cultivated a beautiful patch of it in one of our gardens as it’s color is so vivid and the bees absolutely love it as well as the monarch butterflies.
There are over 100 types of Goldenrod around the world, the majority of them being found in North America. How many of you love Sunflowers? They are one of my favorites. Goldenrod is actually in the same family as Sunflowers. Goldenrod loves to form these beautiful full patches and you will find that they do well in partial shade which is a definite advantage when you are gardening. Like Sunflowers they are definitely a taller variety of flower usually averaging between one and seven feet. The Goldenrod in my yard is currently just over five feet tall. They are perennial plants and you can find that some of them come back for decades. That’s part of why we had such an easy time of working with them in our yard.
Goldenrod is considered an herb as several parts of the plant are edible and can be used for medicinal use. You can use both the leaves and the flowers to make a tea. If you are using the leaves of the plant you want to make sure that you harvest them before it flowers. You can take the flowers when it is in full bloom. Try to only take the top 1/3 of the flowers. You can dry the flowers, leaves and stalks.
Goldenrod has several key uses that have been tracked for some time now. One of them is helping to prevent kidney stones and clear the urinary tract. It can also help with inflammation and may be useful to help with sinus inflammation and aggravation, allergies, colds and influenza. Typically you would use a tea for these methods made from the flowers. For inflammation of the body, aches and pains you can use it in a salve or oils.
Goldenrod can be used to help with intuitive tasks. When you drink it in a tea it can help to both ground you and increase your intuition. If you are familiar with working with dowsing rods you can use a flower stem as a dowsing rod. It can help with positive energy and courage if you are feeling down or you need a bit of a confidence boost. It can also help with love and prosperity. Consider using it in rituals to help bring it’s energy to your magickal work.
Have an amazingly magickal day!
Much Love and Many Blessings,
Jasmeine Moonsong